


Knot That Kind Of Shepherd

by danceswithgary



Series: Screen Savor [4]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Established Relationship, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-01
Updated: 2009-09-01
Packaged: 2017-10-04 01:32:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithgary/pseuds/danceswithgary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeannie was going to have to rethink the 'two grown men can manage one little girl for three or four hours' hypothesis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knot That Kind Of Shepherd

A simple request. A couple of hours out of the house, so that she and Kaleb could have lunch and shop without Madison, had been all she'd asked for. If she'd realized that two grown men, who'd survived life-sucking aliens, explosions, and who-knew-what-else in another galaxy, couldn't handle entertaining one little girl that long, she'd have called her usual sitter for Madison and banished John and Mer to the movie theatre.

She learned it had been a bad assumption when she walked into the living room and saw John lying on the couch with a bag of frozen peas on his elevated ankle, Mer sitting next to him holding a small ice pack against John's right eye. Only the fact that Madison was a few feet away on the floor, happily playing with the Athosian doll they'd delivered from Teyla, kept her from panicking.

It didn't keep her from snapping, "What have you two done now?"

When Mer frowned up at her, she recognized the incipient explosion. Thankfully, Kaleb short-circuited it with a concerned, "John, are you okay or do we need to take you to the emergency room?"

She obviously still looked upset, because John jumped in to help Kaleb play mediator, gently tugging her brother's hand away from his face so that he could talk to her. "I'm fine. Really. I'm just having a hard time convincing Mer of that." She could understand why. The vivid red abrasion located much too close to John's eye, combined with the grimace that crossed John's face as he pulled himself up to sit, wasn't doing much to convince Jeannie, either.

She wasn't going to let it go with just that. "Well. I'm waiting." She crossed her arms and looked at them until they were both squirming and looking thoroughly chagrined.

Mer broke first. "It was just a little accident that happened when we were outside with Madison."

"Uncle John fell and got hurt," Madison offered helpfully, her doll forgotten in favor of the more interesting adult conversation.

That might have been enough, but then John added with a chuckle, "Mer needs practice with his knots."

"Just because you have no hips to keep things where they belong doesn't mean my knotting skills are faulty!" Mer sputtered, making it clear that she was going to get the whole story from them, one way or another.

Madison bounced to her feet and announced, "We had lots of fun in the snow! Uncle Mer took lots of pictures!"

"Of Uncle John falling?" Kaleb asked. Jeannie could tell by the twitch at the corner of his mouth that he was trying not to laugh.

There was a sullen "No" from John, immediately overridden by a sheepish "Yes" from Mer, followed by "Show them!" from Madison and "Mer!" from John.

Mer got up from where he'd been sitting next to John and fetched his camera, protesting his innocence. "Not really on purpose, John. I was filming when it happened. You knew perfectly well what I was doing, showing off like that." He turned the camera on and adjusted it, then handed it to Jeannie. "It's mostly just pictures, but I decided to switch to video when John was pulling Madison's sled." He returned to the couch and nudged John until he moved enough to allow Mer to sit, then he reapplied the discarded ice pack over John's grumbled objection.

"He was my sled dog," Madison clarified. "I held the ropes and said 'Mush!' a lot."

With Kaleb looking over her shoulder, Jeannie clicked through the pictures on the small screen, smiling at the snow fort, snow angels, and a hard-fought snowball war that had ended with Madison perched triumphantly atop a defeated, but still valiantly grinning, Uncle John. She paused to smile down at Madison. "It looks like you had a lot of fun. We'll have to send the pictures from the snowball fight to Teyla and Ronon so they can see they're not the only ones who win over Uncle John."

John groaned dramatically in the background at Jeannie's retribution for upsetting her, while Mer chuckled and Madison nodded enthusiastically, crowing, "I did! I beat Uncle John!"

Scooping Madison up in his arms with a laugh, Kaleb nudged Jeannie and prompted, "So where's that infamous video?"

It turned out it was after few more still shots displaying John's new role as sled dog with Madison holding tight to the ropes she was supposed to use to control him. The video began with John pulling Madison across the yard running full-tilt so that she had to hang tight to the sled, her giggles interspersed with shouts of "Faster!" and "Mush, Uncle John!" Jeannie could also hear Mer's chuckles as he followed the action with the camera.

The disaster had occurred when the sled dog decided to run backwards at the same time his harness was slipping down his thighs. Mix in a scattering of snow blocks not used in the fort, and the shovel used to carve them, and Jeannie could guess the rest. She had to guess, because just before John fell, the camera had recorded a warning from Mer, followed by snow-covered ground and Mer's running feet, Mer's pants, trees, the sky, and assorted interjections.

"See, he fell." Madison solemnly pointed out the obvious, while Kaleb's reaction at the end of the video was short and to the point. "Ow."

"_Exactly_." Mer's bitten-off response made it clear he was still unhappy, and Jeannie began feeling more than a little sympathy for John, and not just for his injuries.

"It looks a lot worse than it was." One of the trademarked McKay eye rolls dismissed John's feeble attempt at damage control, and Jeannie judged it was time for the Millers to clear the area.

She handed Mer the camera, clapped her hands together, and suggested brightly, "What say we make Uncle John his favorite casserole and some cookies for after dinner? I'm sure that will help him feel better, don't you?"

Madison approved with a cheer and John agreed heartily, "I'd _love_ some cookies, especially if they're Madison's. Thanks."

"Great. Dinner's in two hours or so." Her plan in place, Jeannie smiled at the two men on the couch and began herding her helpers in the right direction, feeling much happier knowing everything was going to be fine. Of course, she thought she'd be even more content if she forgot what she overheard as she followed Kaleb and Madison into the kitchen.

"C'mon, let's get you upstairs. You're going to rest that ankle, even if I have to tie you to the bed."

"Promise?"

"You did say I needed practice."  


**Author's Note:**

> This was a leftover idea from a recent challenge and sga_flashfic had a hurt/comfort challenge, so I ran with it.


End file.
